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Students' outpouring of caring follows Guerra family fire tragedy

Justin L. Mack, justin.mack@indystar.com
9:10 p.m. EST March 4, 2014

Students at Holy Cross Central School have raised $1,025 for give to the Guerra family. 6 members of the Guerra family died from a fire in their home on the 21 block of north Olney St. Here Myleba Antunes,left, Melissa Gamero and Fr. Chris Wadelton,right, finish counting the donated money.(Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)

A seventh-grade girl walked into Holy Cross Central School on Feb. 24 with tears in her eyes.

She was mourning the death of her friend and former classmate, one of the six people killed two days earlier in an Eastside house fire.

The next day the girl walked into the office of Holy Cross Principal Ruth Tinsley with one question.

"What can we do to help?"

What followed, school officials said, was an overwhelming act of selflessness, powered by the students of a small Roman Catholic school, that won't soon be matched.

Students at Holy Cross Central School have raised $1,025 for give to the Guerra family. 6 members of the Guerra family died from a fire in their home on the 21 block of north Olney St. Here stuffed animals and other items left in remembrance for the family on the lawn of the home. (Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)

Students at Holy Cross Central School have raised $1,025 for give to the Guerra family. 6 members of the Guerra family died from a fire in their home on the 21 block of north Olney St. Here Myleba Antunes,left, Melissa Gamero and Fr. Chris Wadelton,right, finish counting the donated money. (Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)

Students at Holy Cross Central School have raised $1,025 for give to the Guerra family. 6 members of the Guerra family died from a fire in their home on the 21 block of north Olney St. Here students surround a table to count the donated money. (Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)

Students at Holy Cross Central School have raised $1,025 for give to the Guerra family. 6 members of the Guerra family died from a fire in their home on the 21 block of north Olney St. Here students surround a table to count the donated money. (Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)

Students at Holy Cross Central School have raised $1,025 for give to the Guerra family. 6 members of the Guerra family died from a fire in their home on the 21 block of north Olney St. Here students count the donated money. (Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)

Students at Holy Cross Central School have raised $1,025 for give to the Guerra family. 6 members of the Guerra family died from a fire in their home on the 21 block of north Olney St. Here students count the donated money. (Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)

Students at Holy Cross Central School have raised $1,025 for give to the Guerra family. 6 members of the Guerra family died from a fire in their home on the 21 block of north Olney St. Here students surround a table to count the donated money. (Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)

Students at Holy Cross Central School have raised $1,025 for give to the Guerra family. 6 members of the Guerra family died from a fire in their home on the 21 block of north Olney St. Here stuffed animals and other items left in remembrance for the family on the lawn of the home. (Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)

Jade Calderon,7, and her mother Noemi Calderon visit the 2100 block of North Olney Street on the Eastside house where a father, a mother and four children were killed in a fire Saturday morning. Jade is close friends with one of the victims, 6-year-old Fuentes Guerra. (Photo: Kristine Guerra/ The Star)

Jade Calderon, 7, and her mother Noemi Calderon visit the 2100 block of North Olney Street near the Eastside house where a father, a mother and four children were killed in a fire Saturday morning. The house in the background is abandoned, and is not the house where the people died (Photo: Kristine Guerra/ The Star)

Stuffed animals, candles and flowers have been left in the 2100 block of North Olney Street on the Eastside, near the house where a father, a mother and four children were killed in a fire Saturday morning. The sidewalk leads back to the house where the people perished. Kristine Guerra/The Star (Photo: Kristine Guerra/ The Star)

Stuffed animals, candles and flowers have been left in the 2100 block of North Olney Street on the Eastside, where a father, a mother and four children were killed in a fire Saturday morning. The people did not die in this structure. The sidewalk leads back to the house where the people perished. (Photo: Kristine Guerra/ The Star)

Firefighters David Richards (left) and Joni Kelley look in on in the aftermath of the fire at 2187 N. Olney St. that left two parents and four children dead Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014. (Photo: Michelle Pemberton/The Star)

IFD Pastor Mike Gatliff speaks with an unidentified woman who was one of several who called in the fire that resulted with the death of six members of an Eastside family. (Photo: Michelle Pemberton/The Star)

IFD Pastor Mike Gatliff speaks with an unidentified woman who was one of several who called in the fire that resulted with the death of six members of an Eastside family. (Photo: Michelle Pemberton/The Star)

Officials from the Indianapolis Fire Department said the fire was accidental but the cause remains "undetermined." Arson has been ruled out as a possibility.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Holy Cross students had collected $1,025 in donations, to go to the extended family to defray funeral costs.

"I was totally overwhelmed … prouder than any mother could be of their children, and I have 225 children to be proud of here," Tinsley said. "It will warm my heart for years to come."

Tinsley said that after the seventh-grade student asked what they could do to support the family, Tinsley asked Holy Cross Pastor Chris Wadelton if the offering from the Near-Eastside school's Thursday morning Mass could go to the family instead of the church.

Wadelton agreed, and when the time for the offering came, nearly every student stood and eagerly dropped coins and bills into the collection basket.

"It was the most amazing experience to be standing at the altar, watching the entire student population come up and make donations," Wadelton said. "More than one child brought in like a Mason jar with change. You could tell they had been collecting it for a while. ... They took the top off and dumped the whole thing in. They were all totally into it, and it was just a very, very heartwarming thing to see.

"The kids' eyes would kind of get big when they would come up and see how much money was in the basket, and they were all part of that."

The next day, the school gave students another opportunity to give. Holy Cross students wear uniforms, and Tinsley said with the donation of a dollar, students could consider the day "dress down Friday."

Once again, student participation exceeded officials' expectations.

"It wasn't just a dollar they brought in," Tinsley said. "They brought in twenties and fives and tens. They said to me, 'We want them to have this. They need this.' By the end of the day, we had more than $800 in two days."

At that point, the fundraising effort had taken on a life of its own.

Tinsley said to make the parents aware of the fundraiser, a note was sent home with every child early last week explaining what was being called the "Students Helping Students" drive.

One student used that note to make a poster that she then hung in her apartment complex and at the restaurant that her father manages.

That student returned to the school with $156 from her own personal campaign, Tinsley said.

A circle of giving

Organ donations from three members of the Guerra family who perished in the blaze — Brandy Mae, Miranda and Fuentes — helped save the lives of dozens of others, IFD officials said. And one organ recipient has a connection to Holy Cross, school officials learned during the course of the drive.

Tinsley said that before Thursday's Mass, a student was sent to the principal's office because her teacher questioned whether she was in proper uniform. When speaking to Tinsley, the student mentioned that she had $40 ready to contribute to the Guerra family.

"I asked her where she got the $40. She said, 'It's my birthday money, and I thought they needed it more than I did,'" Tinsley said.

Overcome with pride, Tinsley called the student's grandmother and told her about the act. The grandmother shared the good news with other family members and called the school with a surprising announcement.

"The woman called back and told me that a distant cousin of the girl who was out of uniform received a heart transplant from one of the Guerra children," Tinsley said. "To find out that everything came back full circle ... It's just God's plan I guess, and it's a good plan."

Practically every Holy Cross student from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade made a contribution to the Guerra family, Tinsley said.

"It's remarkable ... 93 percent of my children live at or below the poverty level, but they stepped up to help strangers in need," she said. "It was simply amazing."

Visitation for the Guerra family is 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at New Wineskin Ministries, 4501 W. 38th St. Memorial services for all six family members will begin at 11 a.m. Friday at New Wineskin Ministries. At the conclusion, interment will take place at New Crown Cemetery, 2101 Churchman Ave.

Anyone interested in making a donation to help defray funeral expenses for the Guerra family may send checks addressed to "Guerra Charitable Final Arrangements Trust" to any Chase bank branch.